AMD has revealed that Microsoft will not be releasing several versions of DirectX this time round, as was the case with DirectX 9, instead it will focus on DirectX 11 after the 10.1 update for DirectX 10 is released. With DirectX 9, Microsoft released major updates a number of times to allow for different shader models (2.0, 2.0a, 2.0b and 3.0). However, Microsoft looks set to encourage graphics companies like ATI and NVIDIA to focus on increasing performance rather than adding more features for the next few years, at least until the launch of DirectX 11. This could potentially pave the way for NVIDIA and ATI to work on multi-GPU graphics cards without the need to keep adding functionality. Microsoft will almost certainly continue to provide minor updates for DirectX, just with no major changes integrated.

That sure makes upgrading a GPU a lot easier. Pop in a DirectX 10.1 video card and you don't have to worry about it becoming obsolete any time soon.

Well, at least you don't have to worry about your DirectX revision going out of date. I suppose people are still going to ditch their perfectly fine formerly-cutting-edge 8800's and 3870's for upgraded models with higher clock speeds and new features, are they not?

Pretty obvious what they are trying to achieve here. This is just some pre-Christmas marketing. Many people, in fact you could say MANY people, are holding off on purchasing a Dx10 card until Dx10 specs are finalized. (10.1 today, 10.2 tomorrow, 10.2b next week, SM 7.0 a week after that, etc). With this AMD is trying to reassure the consumer that 10.1 is final and is giving them more incentive to buy their Dx10.1/SM 4.0 cards. Which is not un-honorable thing to do. It's just, there are aren’t even half a dozen games that use Dx10 fully or even single one that uses the additional lightning/illumination features of Dx10.1. Heck, 3DMark 07/08 is not even out yet.

Why is AMD "revealing" this. If it came from Microsoft directly it would give it more credibility, instead its coming from a GPU manufacturer/developer which has obvious financial stakes in the matter.

stop your complaining. for progress to be made you have to let go of legacy hardware/software. I know your hardware/software isn't exactly old, but the pc market has been moving so quickly the last few years, so new becomes old very quickly

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Pretty obvious what they are trying to achieve here. This is just some pre-Christmas marketing. Many people, in fact you could say MANY people, are holding off on purchasing a Dx10 card until Dx10 specs are finalized. (10.1 today, 10.2 tomorrow, 10.2b next week, SM 7.0 a week after that, etc). With this AMD is trying to reassure the consumer that 10.1 is final and is giving them more incentive to buy their Dx10.1/SM 4.0 cards. Which is not un-honorable thing to do. It's just, there are aren’t even half a dozen games that use Dx10 fully or even single one that uses the additional lightning/illumination features of Dx10.1. Heck, 3DMark 07/08 is not even out yet.

Also

Why is AMD "revealing" this. If it came from Microsoft directly it would give it more credibility, instead its coming from a GPU manufacturer/developer which has obvious financial stakes in the matter.

Actually i've decided to hold off on any directX10 purchase until I see directX11. I remember getting burned several times with directX8.1, directX9.0 etc. So this time i'll sit it out until I hear more about when directX11 will show up. My current DX9.0c graphics card is a monster and i'm happy with the performance so i'll just sit back and wait for the dust to settle.

This is just good for consumers. There are/were numerous thread on every new game that doesn't support 2.0b shaders any more, but are DirectX 9 games (like Dirt & Bioshock pop in to mind). If a DX11 game comes out hopefully people don't expect it to run on their computer with DX10 graphics. But that's long way to the future, first we need DX10 only games and then DX10-11 games and after that first DX11 only games will be here.

So . . . AMD saying that 10.1 is final doesn't seem a little odd to any more than just one person in this thread? Considering how gung-ho MS has been over DX10 and Vista, I woulda thought news like this would've come from the horse's mouth.

If AMD did fabricate this info, or stretch the truth, I sure hope this isn't signs to come of their marketing campaigns. They'd stand likely to lose quite a few customers to mud-slinging and falsifications.

As it stands, DX10 needs to change. As it is now it's a complete waste of time. For example:
-DX10 games like Crysis can play the same IQ settings in DX9 at higher frame rates
-Developers like John Carmack, Gabe Newell, etc are hesitant to use DX10
-Games like Halo 2 and Alan Wake (so far) are Vista only, not DX10 only
-poor performance using DX10 with no discernable IQ improvements to accommodate the frame rate drop
-etcetera, etcetera

In all it's fool hardy to imply that DX10 is fine as is. It also makes you wonder why Nvidia implement code for DX10.1 in their D8E series (rumored) and Geforce 9 series Weren't they the ones who downplayed it to begin with?
I know you see the irony of it...
-DX10.1 downplayed
-GT released to public, then sold out and sporadic ever since
-GTS released to public at higher price point
-D8E released and rumored to use DX10.1
-Geforce 9 Series uses DX10.1

How can it not be final if both Nvidia and ATI are implementing it into their hardware?
There has been no other news about DX10.X. Lets face it, DX10.1 is not new, it was talked about when Vista was released.

That sure makes upgrading a GPU a lot easier. Pop in a DirectX 10.1 video card and you don't have to worry about it becoming obsolete any time soon.

Well, at least you don't have to worry about your DirectX revision going out of date. I suppose people are still going to ditch their perfectly fine formerly-cutting-edge 8800's and 3870's for upgraded models with higher clock speeds and new features, are they not?

I have heard throught the grapevine that DX10.1 is the final revision that Vista is scheduled to get as far as major capability upgrades go. And that the rest of the optimisations are going to be a closer interface between driver and hardware.

The new "DX" sound implementation is little more than a driver running on hardware, more like what the 9X enviroment was, and it has some of the same issues, but at least MS has stepped out of the way and allowed driver makers to fall on their face.

As it stands, DX10 needs to change. As it is now it's a complete waste of time. For example:
-DX10 games like Crysis can play the same IQ settings in DX9 at higher frame rates
-Developers like John Carmack, Gabe Newell, etc are hesitant to use DX10
-Games like Halo 2 and Alan Wake (so far) are Vista only, not DX10 only
-poor performance using DX10 with no discernable IQ improvements to accommodate the frame rate drop
-etcetera, etcetera

In all it's fool hardy to imply that DX10 is fine as is. It also makes you wonder why Nvidia implement code for DX10.1 in their D8E series (rumored) and Geforce 9 series Weren't they the ones who downplayed it to begin with?
I know you see the irony of it...
-DX10.1 downplayed
-GT released to public, then sold out and sporadic ever since
-GTS released to public at higher price point
-D8E released and rumored to use DX10.1
-Geforce 9 Series uses DX10.1

You didn't understand the whole thing. If this news are true, that means that DX10.1 will last long. Indeed, it has been designed to last, and I suppose they want it to last as many years as DX9, that's 5 years. That doesn't mean PC graphics will stancate or that we are not getting improvements over the time. It means that those improvements and features have been designed now, waiting for the hardware to cach up. That's why most of its features (and DX10's BTW) can't be fully utiliced on current hardware. They will in 4 years from now, and that, with the current pace means 8x the performance of the 8800.

This is obvious on Crysis, Crysis is DX9, I don't have any doubts about this, and that is why you can play it on XP with all the features on. The DX10 version is a "DX9 coding made under DX10 API", and by no means uses all the new features DX10 has to offer. They themselves said DX10 would be used only for performance improvements (now there is the irony). Remember when MS said DX10 could give 6x the performance of DX9 in the same hardware? Well that wasn't exact. In reality DX10 doesn't give better performance with same features as DX9, but more features at the same performance level. In an attempt to justify DX10 Crytek made Very High only posible under DX10, but they got owned.

So we still have to wait until real DX10 games come out. And if current top cards can't even handle Crysis at Very High (wich is no other thing than DX9.0c fully utiliced), what's the point of releasing DX10.1 cards now? There isn't any.
By the time DX10.1 is out and developers start making games that fully utilice it's features 8800 and HD3000 are going to be considered budget cards. Who cares if 6600, 6800, or even 7600 all have SM3.0? In order to enable SM3 on games you have to use highest settings in most of them, and with those cards you can't, because they don't have the performance.
But now, on Nvidia 9 series with a claimed 2x-3x 8800Ultra performance or in Amd's R700 it makes more sense, because when DX10.1 arrives they should be at least midrange cards.

Hope it's clearer for you why they downplayed DX10.1.
BTW do you think that MS would say "DX10.1 is an incremental update that won’t affect any games or gamers in the near future" if it wasn't true? It's their product and the strongest (?) selling point of Vista...
You acted as if you thought Nvidia paid MS to say that, which is stupid.

Dx11 is just around the corner though, it`ll be out by 2009 I believe.. I dont remember the exact dates, it might of been end of 2008 and or 2009 in around there... hopefully dx11 sticks around for a while when its done .

I'd guess mid 2009 though.. I dont see it coming out in 1 year from now.

Dx11 is just around the corner though, it`ll be out by 2009 I believe.. I dont remember the exact dates, it might of been end of 2008 and or 2009 in around there... hopefully dx11 sticks around for a while when its done .

I'd guess mid 2009 though.. I dont see it coming out in 1 year from now.

Why the hell are they thinking about DX11 when 10 sucks so much? Remember DX10 was supposed to give up to six times performance boosts when M$ was touting it as the wave of the future? As of right now, DX10 does not give performance boosts, rather it decreases it. I don't see the point of investing in Vista or DX10 when all Vista does is devour my memory and DX10 makes my games run crappy. There is no way in hell I'm blowing my money there. I may as well upgrade my cpu and gpu and call it a day. I will spend less and get the same performance than if I bought a new computer with mid-top line specs with Vista. Tell me if I am wrong, please...

Dx11 is just around the corner though, it`ll be out by 2009 I believe.. I dont remember the exact dates, it might of been end of 2008 and or 2009 in around there... hopefully dx11 sticks around for a while when its done .

I'd guess mid 2009 though.. I dont see it coming out in 1 year from now.

Could you post a link where you found any mention to DX11 release please? I have only read that MS is working on it right now, which doesn't mean they'll release it anytime soon. Only for comparison, Epic is working on Unreal Engine 4 since 2003.